Tractor Boys

Photographs by Martin Bogren

January 31 – April 12, 2025 / Opening Thursday, January 30
Le Carré d’Art – Photography Gallery

Swedish photographer Martin Bogren followed a group of young teenagers from the province of Skåne in southern Sweden. To ward off boredom, they find themselves on the outskirts of their villages, at the wheel of their EPA Tractors, old cars converted for agricultural use that by law can be driven from the age of 15.

Rules are supposed to limit the speed of these vehicles to 30 km per hour. However, the boys are clever and very creative when it comes to finding ways around these legal restrictions. Extremely popular in rural areas, these vehicles, which also lack rear suspension, are rigged up and used to take part in frantic races, kicking up dust and snow in a smell of burnt rubber, asphalt and diesel.

Martin Bogren’s approach to these phenomena gives this project a cinematic dimension, not unlike that of James Dean in La fureur de vivre…

Festival Travelling partnership
This exhibition is presented as part of Rennes Métropole’s 36th Travelling Film Festival, which this year focuses on Swedish film production (February 4-11, 2025).